ly of the
Primates! That 'the British Empire is an empire' affords no matter for
doubt or inquiry; but how difficult to judge whether the British Empire
resembles Assyria, Egypt, Rome, Spain in those characters and
circumstances that caused their downfall!

(3) Is the Major Premise true? Are all ruminants herbivorous? If there
be any exceptions to the rule, camels are likely enough to be among the
exceptions. And here the need of Inductive Logic is most conspicuous:
how can we prove our premises when they are universal propositions?
Universal propositions, however, are also involved in proving the minor
premise: to prove a thing to be iron, we must know the constant
reactions of iron.

A second advantage of the syllogism is, that it makes us fully aware of
what an inference implies. An inference must have some grounds, or else
it is a mere prejudice; but whatever the grounds, if sufficient in a
particular case, they must be sufficient for all similar cases, they
must admit of being generalised; and to generalise the grounds of the
inference, is nothing else than to state the major premise. If the
evidence is sufficient to justify the argument that camels are
herbivorous _because_ they are ruminants, it must also justify the major
premise, _All ruminants are herbivorous_; for else the inference cannot
really depend merely upon the fact of ruminating. To state our evidence
syllogistically, then, must be possible, if the evidence is mediate and
of a logical kind; and to state it in this formal way, as depending on
the truth of a general principle (the major premise), increases our
sense of responsibility for the inference that is thus seen to imply so
much; and if any negative instances lie within our knowledge, we are the
more likely to remember them. The use of syllogisms therefore tends to
strengthen our reasonings.

A third advantage is, that to formulate an accurate generalisation may
be useful to others: it is indeed part of the systematic procedure of
science. The memoranda of our major premises, or reasons for believing
anything, may be referred to by others, and either confirmed or refuted.
When such a memorandum is used for further inferences, these inferences
are said, in the language of Formal Logic, to be drawn _from_ it, as if
the conclusion were contained in our knowledge of the major premise;
but, considering the limited extent of the material evidence, it is
better to say that the inference is drawn _ac